Pedagogy – Robin Nealhttps://robinbneal.com
a teacher energized by innovation and collaboration
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 20:45:53 +0000 en
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1 http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/4ef6032158cf80eabbcba505a68f0c06?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngPedagogy – Robin Nealhttps://robinbneal.com
The Power of Feedback: Part Twohttps://robinbneal.com/2015/06/14/the-power-of-feedback-part-two/
https://robinbneal.com/2015/06/14/the-power-of-feedback-part-two/#commentsSun, 14 Jun 2015 13:03:32 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=614As I promised in part 1 I am continuing to provide summaries and reactions to John Hattie’s and Helen Timperley’s “The Power of Feedback.” Some of my English colleagues and I have been focused on improving our feedback on student writing, and reading this meta-analysis (published in 2007) was our starting point this year. Of course, the more I read the more I wanted to know, so this reading led to more reading…and more reading, which I will summarize through these blog posts.

Since writing my first post, I had the chance to go to London and hear John Hattie speak at a Visible Learning conference. Hattie and team use a “Barometer of Influence” to explain research results to the masses. His main argument is this:

Almost ANYTHING teachers do helps students achieve. There is actually very little we do in the classroom that decreases achievement.

The key to truly effective learning, then, is to focus on WHAT WORKS BEST. If we want to be effective educators, Hattie tells us to focus on the actions that fall in the green or blue category (anything offering over 0.4 influence), and, very importantly, to carefully measure our actions, gauging whether or not they are actually helping students reach greater achievement.

Feedback, by the way, has a 0.75 influence and falls within in the blue range. In other words, it is very much worth our time to get better at providing it.

Hattie’s argument makes perfect sense to me, and it is edifying to realize that teachers’ gut instincts (e.g. better feedback helps students write better) are actually supported by big data. John Hattie and the Visible Learning team are basing their results on over 1,000 meta-analyses involving 240,000,000,000 students.

The good news, then, is that in reading “The Power of Feedback” I have been exposed to a much broader perspective on what makes for effective teaching. The bad news? “The Power of Feedback” left me wanting more specific, concrete advice on how I can get better at giving feedback on writing.

Naively, I was hoping for information along the lines of: Writing comments on students’ essays has a 0.82 influence on achievement while simply talking to students about their work only has a 0.24 influence. Research would indicate, then, that English teachers really should feel wonderful about sacrificing so many weekends to the time-suck that is writing individualized comments. It works better than conferencing face-to-face! Alas, no such clarity is to be gained here. Yet, there are broader takeaways that I can apply to my own practices. Here they are:

TAKE-AWAY#2: “Simply providing more feedback is not the answer, because it is necessary to consider the nature of the feedback, the timing, and how a student ‘receives’ this feedback (or, better, actively seeks the feedback)” (Hattie and Timperley 101).

To help us consider the nature of our feedback, Hattie and Timperely describe four categories:

Feedback on Self (FS) = praise

“Nice job!”

“You obviously worked hard on this essay!”

Feedback on Task (FT) = how well a task is being performed; is a task correct or not

“You are now writing topic sentences which clearly preview the content of the paragraph.”

“You have three run-on sentences in this introduction paragraph.”

Feedback on Process (FP) = what strategies are needed to perform a task; suggesting alternative strategies that might lead to success.

“Your topic sentences will be more effective when you provide a specific argument within them. Re-read this paragraph and answer this question: ‘What am I trying to prove?’”

“Before handing in the next draft, correct the three run-on sentences in this introduction paragraph and check with me in class to see that you have fixed them. Use the online run-on resources if you need to review this concept before you revise.”

Feedback on Self-Regulation (FR) = self-monitoring with a clear goal in mind

“What is the purpose of topic sentences? Considering your answer, what can you do to improve the topic sentences in this draft? Check with me in class to see if your revisions strategy is on point.”

“Through our in-class activities, you have demonstrated a good understanding of run-on sentences, yet they still appear in your drafts. Look at your introduction again and remove the run-ons you find there.”

I, like you, focus inordinately on feedback on task. Most teachers do. To make our feedback more effective, however, we must consider, what type of feedback is necessary at an exact point. One of the Visible Learning presenters defined feedback as: just for me information delivered just at the time I need it.

The definition is fantastic…and daunting. I think I am good at giving feedback, and I’m left wondering, “OK. But how do I know exactly what they need and when they need it? And how do I clone myself so I can give everyone feedback at the moment they need it?”

I can’t clone myself, but looking at Hattie and Timperley’s analysis of big data helps. Here are a few of the important points I gleaned from my reading:

Mixing corrective feedback (FT) with feedback at the self level (e.g. “I am proud of you!” or “Good effort!”) actually dilutes the power of feedback (85). Praise can be a motivating tool we use to build relationships with students, but if we should not expect it to affect achievement very profoundly. It has only a 0.14 effect (83).

“Specifically, feedback is more effective when it provides information on correct rather than incorrect responses and when it builds on changes from previous [trials]” (83). When we focus on what the writer is doing correctly, we are helping the writer achieve. Reinforcement has a 0.96 effect (83).

FT is more powerful when it is about faulty interpretations, not lack of information (85). Further instruction is needed when knowledge is not present. Re-teaching, depending on the student’s base knowledge, will be the more effective strategy.

“Feedback at the process level (e.g. cuing a student to use an advanced organizer) appears to be more effective than FT for deeper understanding” (86). At the beginning of a task, FT is useful, but we must consciously move students toward more autonomy and independence. When we do so, the numbers show that students achieve more.

Considering these points, how do my own practices stack up with what the research tells us we should be doing?

The Good:

Focus on what works: The longer I teach, the more focused I become on celebrating what the students do well in their writing. I try to dedicate at least half of my comments to what is working in the piece, reserving the rest of my comments for suggestions to improve.

Big data tells us that such a focus increases achievement, as students are more likely to internalize such skills and carry them from assignment to assignment. It also makes students more receptive to the corrective feedback, and if we can’t get them to accept feedback, it won’t be effective.

I am also becoming more conscientious of how I phrase such suggestions. Within these past months I have been especially aware of the three questions feedback should help students answer: Where am I going? How am I going? What next?

Instead of writing…“You do not integrate textual quotations well. Please review the materials we have studied in class.”

I have been writing….“When you learn to integrate textual quotations into your own syntax, you will add more sophistication to your work.”

In the future, I will write…“You were suppose to integrate textual quotations into your own sentence structure. You have selected strong quotations, but they are only dropped into the essay with insufficient setup. When you learn to integrate textual quotations into your own syntax, you will add more sophistication to your work. Use the TLC method we reviewed in class or review the online sources on Haiku to improve.”

The last statement is much longer, but because I use macros to make such comments, I will not take more time to give better feedback. If I am using an audio feedback approach, I will need to limit my comments and be sure to shape them around the three feedback questions more directly.

In addition to the phrasing of my feedback, I am also happy with the mini-essay approach I sometimes use. It allows me to give more pointed feedback more frequently.

The typical writing process in the typical classroom often looks like this. (Actually, this graphic is generous, as far too often the “process” goes write/review really quickly/revise a little bit/get your grade.)

A writing process that will help more students find more achievement, will review and revise more often and more frequently. It might look like this:

The mini-essay approach allows me to give such feedback as we work toward a larger essay. It works the same way when we break down longer essays into various paragraphs. Eli Review (and big data) argue that when we train students to give more effective feedback, we can more realistically shift the writing process paradigm to look more like the second graph.

In the future, I will be focused on other ways I can increase the frequency and timeliness of the review and revise components of the writing process model.

The Bad and The Ugly:

Nice in theory, but let’s be realistic: I need to make something really clear. I am not always giving excellent feedback. One big reason for the delay in between my postings is that I am spending a big chunk of time marking big stacks of essay. And in the time period that I have been drafting this post, not every student has received extensive feedback on every essay.

I just finished 40 grade 10 reflective essays where I simply wrote a note at the end of the essay, detailing two things they did well and two things they could do to improve. But, there is no time for students to act on my feedback. It’s the end of the year, and these essays were written entirely on their own time, outside of class, with little to no feedback from me.

While I was marking the reflective essays, the same students wrote an in-class timed commentary essay on a passage from The Great Gatsby. On these handwritten commentary essays I underlined things that were good, circled things that were a problem, and put a few different symbols that relate to certain points of feedback. I marked some points on the scoring guide and assigned a grade. Again, the students did not get a chance to revise these first attempts. The grade was the grade.

Of course, I am using these essays as assessments, and when students cannot act on my feedback I give very little (if any). I just want to admit to the fact that while I’m writing these posts of feedback my own practices are far from perfect. I am pragmatic…and simply try to improve with every passing year.

I will write one more post on “The Power of Feedback.” In the meantime, you might want to check out some of these links to read some of what I have been reading while writing these posts:

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2015/06/14/the-power-of-feedback-part-two/feed/1rbnealThePowerofFeedbackpartbarometer_of_influencevisible-learning-infographictimeline1timeline2#ELMLE2015 Update: Simple Classroom Hackshttps://robinbneal.com/2015/02/06/elmle2015-update-simple-classroom-hacks/
https://robinbneal.com/2015/02/06/elmle2015-update-simple-classroom-hacks/#commentsFri, 06 Feb 2015 09:24:20 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=585The past weeks have been busy…just not with work on this blog. Writing semester one reports and preparing for the 2015 ELMLE conference in Warsaw consumed most of my time. Then the flu took me down. I’m back at the keyboard now, though, even if the hacking and sniffles aren’t quite over. Thankfully, I did not get sick until the day after I returned from another wonderful ELMLE experience.

This was my third visit to an ELMLE conference, and I always leave bursting with ideas and convinced that the teaching world is brimming with kindred spirits. As in years past, I will dedicate future blog posts to some of the ideas I took away from the conference. I will also probably make separate blog posts out of a session I presented entitled Simple Classroom Hacks.

I enjoy writing this blog, but it can be a lonely pursuit at times. The comments and growing daily hits are encouraging, but being in a roomful of educators who get excited by the ideas we are sharing is more immediately energizing. It was wonderful to make contact with so many of you at ELMLE, and I hope to get the chance to present next year in Barcelona.

For now, here are my presentation slides….stay tuned for more ELMLE-inspired posts in the near future.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2015/02/06/elmle2015-update-simple-classroom-hacks/feed/1rbnealelmle2015Student Scribe Postshttps://robinbneal.com/2014/11/30/student-scribe-posts/
https://robinbneal.com/2014/11/30/student-scribe-posts/#respondSun, 30 Nov 2014 12:33:24 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=559Go to any grocery store parking lot in Germany, and you will never…and I mean never…see any stray shopping carts rattling along in the wind or parked in the hedges. Every carriage is always tucked back in the rack, sometimes in color coded rows. In the United States I always put my cart back where it belonged, and I secretly enjoyed rounding up any strays I came across. Imposing order on this chaotic world, even in small doses, soothes my fastidious soul. My fellow countrymen, however, do not share my O.C.D. Most people leave carts wherever they damn well please.

Yet, the difference in national shopping cart parking habits does not reveal some great divide between American and German gentility. Germans do not return their carts out of an altruistic urge to avoid scratching their neighbors’ Audis. Instead, grocery stores in Germany simply engineer order into their systems. To get a cart, you have to unlock it from the rack with a coin. When you’re done, you can’t get your money back until you return the cart and secure it to its mates. It’s a simple system that works beautifully.

The Student Scribe system works in much the same way; it’s a simple system, that once implemented, works with minimal effort on the teacher’s part. I first learned about the idea from Darren Kuropatwa, and I found his blog posts on student scribes very useful when setting up my scribe system for the first time.

On most days, one student takes communal notes and then posts these to a class wiki. Each post ends with the current student choosing the next scribe. Here are the directions I give my students regarding scribe posts:

SCRIBE POST DIRECTIONS

A Scribe Post should be a clear, creative explanation of the learning that occurred in class that day. In other words, you should BRIEFLY (a few sentences) summarize what went on, but your post should not be a summary of the events in class. It should be a SYNTHESIS of the LEARNING that occurred. Imagine a classmate was absent and you must help him or her catch up on what was missed, and make connections that go beyond summary.

I want YOU to add content (links, videos, analogies, textual evidence, etc.) that ADDS to class discussion. Push yourself to go beyond a regurgitation of words…use colors, links, images, media, and your own JUICY BRAIN to explain the learning with some PERSONAL STYLE. No length requirement….But, each Scribe Post must be posted by the start of the next class AND end with you choosing the scribe for the next day.

A checklist for a proper Scribe Post:

Include a date and title for every scribe post

Ensure the post goes beyond summary

Add your own connections/thinking to the synthesis of class learning

Use media, color, links, and formatting to add meaning

Make sure your post is PUBLIC (a wiki page of a PUBLIC Google Doc link)

Close your post by CHOOSING THE NEXT SCRIBE

Highlight your name in red on the scribe list, or you can be chosen again in the cycle

ADVICE ON RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT SCRIBE SYSTEM

Begin each class by asking students to review the previous day’s scribe post. This step will ensure that A) scribes get in the habit of posting BEFORE the next class, B) you keep track of completion, and C) the scribe post matters.

As students review the previous scribe post, ask them to be ready with a star and a wish. (I stole this step from Darren Kuropatwa, by the way.) A star is something that works (e.g. “You used color and formatting to make the key information stand out”), and a wish is a piece of formative feedback (e.g. “I wish you would write down who said what because it helps me remember the main points more effectively.”)

Early on in the process, be a scribefor the day. You will be a much more empathetic teacher and the students will have another good exemplar.

Give it time to mature. Scribe Posts will never work perfectly, but this classroom management habit will gain momentum and save everyone time in the long run.

Use the notes before major assessments. I try to build in class time and activities that force students to review past scribe posts in order to collect evidence for summative assessments.

WHY STUDENT SCRIBES WORK:

Students appreciate sincere effort from each other. They do a good job gently pushing each other to “one up” the previous posts.

The system makes the students synthesize, curate, and record the learning. Students are more active participants in constructing knowledge.

The system relieves the pressure from everyone having to take notes…but students who want to take individual notes are still welcome to do so.

The system works with minimal effort from any one individual (including the teacher). Once it is put in place and becomes part of the learning routine, no one person is over-burdened with the process.

The system gives the teacher (and students) a chance to give regular formative feedback and praise.

The system keeps teachers honest. If a student is taking public notes every day, it is a little extra incentive for the teacher to ensure that LEARNING HAPPENS in every class.

As I have shared before, I make a special effort to do the work I assign my students. The “Man from the South” scribe post took me one hour to organize, and I now have a healthier understanding of how long a quality post takes. As a result, I try to excuse the daily Student Scribe from any other homework or class obligation to balance the load. A scribe, for instance, does not have to participate in the class activities unless she chooses to do so. Finally, I do not ask students to scribe in every class, only those that warrant a recording of the learning.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2014/11/30/student-scribe-posts/feed/0rbnealcarts1Medieval_writing_deskcarts2Inde_fortuna_et_libertasThe Digital Farmhttps://robinbneal.com/2014/11/15/the-digital-farm/
https://robinbneal.com/2014/11/15/the-digital-farm/#commentsSat, 15 Nov 2014 12:47:14 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=539I grew up in the Midwest of the United States, so many people (not from the Midwest) assume I grew up on a farm. Far from it. We Neals are not the handiest or hardiest of folks. We didn’t fare well in the fields and quickly found white-collar work. I grew up around farmers, though, and I understand, though admittedly secondhand, the combination of intelligence, dedication, creativity, sacrifice, and hard work required of those in agriculture. I know I would be utter rubbish at it. Yet, the metaphor of a farm has helped me change the way I am teaching some of my English classes. My students and I have been using a digital farm concept to structure our study.

In my experiments with a digital farm, every student is given a chore (or two). Over the course of a predetermined time period (I find students need about two weeks to try out ideas and make multiple attempts), each student must make a meaningful contribution to everyone’s learning in his or her assigned role. Students may contribute in any way and at any time, too. If they are, for instance, designated a Feedback Provider they could still make a contribution as a Big Thinker. Also, depending on the size and personality of the class, I assign multiple students the same role. Students may work with partners or alone to fulfill their task. Students must also communicate with me in a timely fashion so that I can plan our lessons around their contributions.

At the end of each chore cycle, students complete a journal reflection and their work. I give one-to-one feedback, and then assign new chores for the next cycle.

When I first heard about the Digital Farm idea, it instantly resonated with me. I thought, “Right. This approach is a tactile way that 21st century classrooms should be different.” Restructuring the power balance of a classroom to leverage a wide variety of learners and learning tools feels like a no-brainer. Of course, moving from that moment of inspiration in a posh hotel conference room to shifting my everyday pedagogy takes some doing. Therefore, I decided, as I most often do, to start small. A few years back, I tried this idea for about two months in my grade 11 rhetoric courses.

The students really responded to the shift. Overwhelming, they told me that they took their class participation more seriously because it felt “legit.” They enjoyed making contributions that shaped the scope and sequence of our learning. Such reactions make sense. We all like to feel in control of our learning in some way.

Then, like I too often do, I sort of forgot about the idea. Well, more accurately, I told myself that I got too busy, and I simply didn’t make the time for this idea, relying instead on methods that I had used for years. This year, however, I stopped lying to myself and made time to try the idea again.

For about a month now, my grade 10 students and I have been using a digital farm approach, and we are energized by the work so far. Our wiki does not look like much right now, but I am confident it will grow. The students will find ways to make their thinking visible beyond our four walls, and the change in classroom culture is already tangible.

We are finishing up our short story unit, and I am really pleased with the shift in power I am seeing in the classroom. The students chose the stories we read. They created the big unit questions. They led discussions. They took and shared communal notes. Of course, I still guided all this work. I was still very busy, but as I look back on the unit, the majority of intellectual “heavy lifting” was done by my students, not me.

I need a concrete metaphor like the Digital Farm to help me make the daily shifts in my pedagogy that I know lead to more authentic learning. In other words, I need a system to give up control. So far… it is working beautifully, and I am excited to see where this shift takes our learning.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2014/11/15/the-digital-farm/feed/1rbnealScreen Shot 2014-11-15 at 1.24.35 PMroosterMissing Teeth or Shade Tree Time?https://robinbneal.com/2014/05/22/missing-teeth-or-shade-tree-time/
https://robinbneal.com/2014/05/22/missing-teeth-or-shade-tree-time/#commentsThu, 22 May 2014 09:48:55 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=512Missing a week of posting to this blog feels like a missing tooth. During this school year I have found sporadic moments to write, but I could not seem to produce a regular run of posts. Keeping up with life and school work just becomes too much sometimes. Yet, like you, I’m my own worst critic. No other person on this big blue marble gives me one bit of grief for this gaping absence. Oh…right…these missing weeks aren’t really significant failures.

Of course, it’s more important to write meaningful posts than to meet an arbitrary once-a-week-self-imposed deadline. It’s even more important to have a life outside of work. I know this. I know this. I know this.

But, I am still going to try for that once-a-week posting. I have issues.

Thankfully, there’s only one part of my personality that is so hyper critical. There’s a big part of me that revels in having a healthy offline life filled with friends, interests, and plenty of unplugged living.

My first college professor talked about the importance of Shade Tree Time. She told us at the onset of our college experience, we were in store for plenty of stressful moments that would press in on us. She wanted us to remember the importance of doing nothing, sitting under a shade tree and simply observing. Balancing our active moments with reflective moments would be key to our health and help us actually enjoy learning. This advice has always stayed with me.

Looking back over the past few months, the time I did not find to write for this blog has actually been spent lounging in some most excellent, shade-filled moments:

I visited Iceland with great friends…soaked in the Blue Lagoon, hung out with hipster vikings, and saw the Northern Lights for the first time.

I turned 40…and my wife and friends completely surprised me with a party (two days before my actual birthday). Authentic tacos, fresh margaritas, and good laughs…a perfect way to mark a milestone.

I graded piles of essays and wasn’t exhausted by the process. I consistently see my students’ progress, and I have not taken a single essay home. Of course, I pull some late nights at work, but I am creating a healthy separation between home and school.

I escaped into The Round House by Louise Erdrich. I read all the time, but few books actually make me gasp aloud. This one did.

I spent the month of March learning how to sketch. All grade 9 students at Frankfurt International School completed their own 30 day challenges, and as their year head, I completed my own. I’m still not a good artist…but I’m much, much better. I even created some sketches of which I’m really proud.

I went on many calming twilight runs in the woods with my dog.

My wife turned 40, and we hopped on a train to Paris to celebrate.

My wife and I were utterly charmed by our first visit to Vietnam…eating incredible food, visiting precious friends, meeting friendly people, and soaking in a completely new culture.

Honestly, the gaps in this blog still bug me, but I am working on seeing the beauty they reveal. I have a good life outside of work, and I should celebrate when it gets in the way. I am still going to try for more frequent postings, but when I do not meet that goal, I like to think I will simply reflect on why. If I’ve been slowing down and trying new things, then that will have been time spent in more important pursuits.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2014/05/22/missing-teeth-or-shade-tree-time/feed/1rbnealThe Shadow of a TreeIceland 2014Tongeren 2014Finn sketchVietnam 2014Visualizing One Millionhttps://robinbneal.com/2014/05/10/visualizing-one-million/
https://robinbneal.com/2014/05/10/visualizing-one-million/#respondSat, 10 May 2014 12:08:16 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=502To help my students care about one, I try to get them to picture one million. Big numbers are really big…too vast to properly understand without help. This activity can be used in any situation where students would benefit from grasping big numbers, but I use it as an opening exercise in our study of The Diary of Anne Frank.

In this situation, understanding the expanse of one million helps students begin to comprehend the vastness of six to 12 million, the estimated number of people killed during the Holocaust. When students have a nascent, sobering understanding of the horrific scale of this genocide, they approach our study of Anne’s diary with more care, solemnity, and empathy. I emphasize the privilege and duty we have to explore one small part of one life. In doing so we begin to understand the immeasurable loss and, hopefully, do what we can to ensure something like this never happens again.

Visualizing One Million Activity: The Steps (approximately 50 minutes)

Take the class outside and find a place where they can form a long straight line.

Hold a quick foot race to determine the fastest runner in the class. This student will do some more sprinting in a moment.

Ask 10 students to line up in a straight line shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the rest of the group.

Ask another student to represent 20 and have the rest of the class position him or her along the straight line, approximating where 20 people would end.

Do the same for 50 and 100. The student representing 100 should be about 50 meters away from the start of the line. (I’ve measured this out. Two students, standing shoulder to shoulder, fit within a metre.)

Next, ask the fastest student to sprint to the 100 position and back, as fast as he or she can. Have the other students time the sprinter’s progress and observe.

Explain that the sprinter has just passed two hundred people. To pass 1000 people, he or she would have to complete that same run five times.

Now, handout the first page of Visualizing One Million Handout and have students work out the answers with a partner. You will want to change the destinations to fit your locale.

HINT: I use Wolfram Alpha to get screenshots of the relevant maps.

HINT: Work out the answers to number 3 and 4 ahead of time so you can guide the students toward more accurate estimates. (The average human can sprint at about 15 meters per second, and one million students would form a straight line of about 500 kilometers.)

After we have worked out our answers to on page one, I hand out page two which brings in the numbers of the Holocaust. I ask the students to then draw a line that would estimate six million people standing shoulder to shoulder…and then 12.

We compare drawings, and then I give the students a short lecture about the Holocaust and in this case, Anne Frank’s diary. I simply try to speak from the heart and emphasize the privilege we have to take one small glimpse into the lives of a few of the people engulfed in this tragedy.

I then ask students to write a reflection to gauge their reactions to the activities and assess their pre-knowledge of the topic. I don’t grade these reflections, of course. I simply read them and return them.

Taking the time to help students visualize the scale of these numbers engenders more empathy. A number like one million is impossible to measure and understand without such steps, but once students grasp the immensity, they begin to understand why the Holocaust is a touchstone in their education, a moment in history which casts such a long shadow. I seldom hear, “I’m bored” or “What does this have to do with my life?” while we study The Diary of Anne Frank. Instead, most students feel obligated to stop and intimately examine an individual life, to honor the precious value of one.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2014/05/10/visualizing-one-million/feed/0rbnealone million bonesBattle of the Gods: Introduction to Mythology Lessonhttps://robinbneal.com/2014/02/09/battle-of-the-gods-introduction-to-mythology-lesson/
https://robinbneal.com/2014/02/09/battle-of-the-gods-introduction-to-mythology-lesson/#commentsSun, 09 Feb 2014 10:50:44 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=476For the past few weeks, my grade 6 students and I have been sailing the Nile in a felucca, learning about powerful Egyptian pharaohs by exploring monuments of the ancient world. I cannot take credit for these excellent lessons, though. They come from the History Alive! curriculum we have adopted this year, and I am over-the-moon impressed with these engaging resources.

I teach the same students in humanities and English, so I wanted to develop lessons on Egyptian mythology that connected to our humanities work. I came up with a simple idea that worked out beautifully.

The students spent a portion of two class periods researching a couple Egyptian gods, filled out a “playing card” for each god to synthesize their learning, and then mercilessly tried to destroy their classmates with their newfound knowledge, reducing their peers to whimpering sycophants in awe of an obviously superior, juicy brain.

O.K. I may be getting a tad melodramatic there.

But, the lesson proved to be very entertaining and effective, while putting the majority of the heavy mental lifting on the students. Also, I can easily adapt this lesson for Greek and Roman mythology, which we will begin in another week or so.

The procedure:

Using Shmoop Snoops the Gods, students had two class periods to research their gods and fill out the sheets. They spent approximately 30 minutes in each class period on this step, and they could finish their research as homework.

Students brought their completed gods sheets to class, and I quickly checked for completion.

I then divided the room into teams of four.

Students chose a team name and quickly shared their gods with one another. (I always award one point for the most creative name…as judged by me.)

I then laid out some ground rules for the battle:

When I say the words, “Let the battle begin…” your team must be absolutely silent. Any talking while I am speaking or another team is speaking will result in a one point penalty. (I pounce on the first student who speaks. You should, too. It’s good for them…and they can always redeem themselves later in the game.)

Next, I will give you a scenario. Then, with your teammates, you will have to decide to make an offering to a specific god. You should listen carefully to my exact words. Your team will have a real advantage if you do. For instance, I might give you this scenario: “Your DAUGHTER is sick, and she is not getting better.” You can then play an Isis card and explain, “We will make an offering to Isis because she is the goddess of healing AND the feminine. Since it is my daughter that is sick, Isis makes the most sense because she will be very capable of healing, and she will be more likely to help a girl.” Noticing the detail about a daughter being sick, in this case, gives you a chance to make a better argument and show off more of your knowledge about the gods.

Each team will present their choice of gods. Only one member of the team may speak at this point. Note: this speaker must rotate each round so after four rounds, every team member has presented their team’s case at least once.

Your team must give me the god sheet after you have offered your explanation, so you can only play your god once. Note: if your team has duplicates (e.g. two students have cards with Isis), then you can play Isis twice during the game.

After the initial plays, each team will get ONE MORE CHANCE to add anything to their explanation or argue against another team’s decision. Any member of the team may speak at this point…but it must be only ONE PERSON who speaks.

Listen carefully to the other team’s explanations. I really like it when students RESPECTFULLY disagree with each other and RESPECTFULLY argue with another team’s decision.

At the end of each round, I will determine the team who made the best case, awarding that team one point.

DON’T forget the rule about speaking out of turn. If you do, your team loses one point…the same number your team will earn if you win the round…so listening is just as important (and maybe even a bit more important) than speaking.

I then asked a student for a random number between one and twenty-five. The chosen number became the first scenario. I kept track of each scenario as I went as to not repeat them.

I randomly selected the first team to speak in each round, as the last team to play their god has an advantage over the others.

I sat back and watched the magic happen.

You won’t be surprised to read that my students loved playing this game. They were incredibly focused, and they demonstrated a wide and varied knowledge of Egyptian gods. I kept my laptop open to research their answers when necessary. They certainly taught me many things, as I actually know very little about Egyptian mythology. This method was much more effective than simply asking to read or watch videos about the pantheon of gods. They were “picking up the information” they researched and immediately using it to summarize, organize, and evaluate, so much more critical thinking occurred.

Equally important, they started listening very carefully to others, both the members of their team and the opposition. After determining the winners in each round, I would give brief explanations as to why I made the decision: this team gave three separate facts about their goddess…this team obviously listened very carefully to the scenario…this team responded very well to the counter-arguments others threw at them. As the game progressed, the teams’ explanations became more focused and creative. Teams stopped playing the same gods and started looking for a competitive edge by making more original choices.

Also, the game is not fair. I certainly showed bias in the types of answers I awarded. When students would cry out, “THAT’S NOT FAIR!!!!” I would pleasantly respond, “Of course not. In almost every story about the gods, life isn’t fair. Gods–and this teacher–can be incredibly unpredictable. That’s the point…of this game and mythology.”

We will most definitely play this game again; the students have already begged me to repeat it…and how often does that happen at the end of a lesson? Of course, this approach can easily be adjusted to any culture. In a few weeks we will study Greek and Roman mythology, and I plan on pitting these capricious, compassionate, arrogant, clever, powerful, and passionate grade 6 students against each other again…and I’m sure they will love the drama that results, learning important lessons along the way. Funny how that formula still works, even after all this time.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2014/02/09/battle-of-the-gods-introduction-to-mythology-lesson/feed/6rbnealDeus-RaPutting It Out There: Take the Time to Publishhttps://robinbneal.com/2013/12/05/putting-it-out-there-take-the-time-to-publish/
https://robinbneal.com/2013/12/05/putting-it-out-there-take-the-time-to-publish/#respondThu, 05 Dec 2013 08:03:33 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=445Just a short anecdote from an English 9 class that gives me a boost and reminds me why it is worth our time to make the extra effort to publish online. I have written before about how I use macros and AutoText to save time when giving feedback on writing. In a recent essay, one of my students was making a chronic comma error, one that I dub The Most Common Comma Error in the World. My AutoText comment to her was, “Remember our quick lesson on the most common comma error in the world? You make it time and time again, but it’s easy to fix. Hint: the comma in that last sentence is a clue as to what mistake you’re making.” One problem. I never taught her class anything about this topic. Obviously, I thought I had.

Yet, it was not really a problem. She just Googled the phrase “The Most Common Comma Error in the World” and watched the video I had posted on this same topic years earlier. She viewed the video and made her changes.

It was a microscopic moment of flipped teaching, but it was one that reminds why I take the extra effort to share my work online:

It helps my students learn. They don’t have to have me standing next to them explaining a topic in order to have me standing next to them explaining a topic. They have a video, so students can access my explanations anytime, anywhere.

It helps me learn. I enjoy tinkering with technology and learning how to use various software. It feels more like play, but in the end, this tinkering helps me work more effectively. I can still give class instruction on something like a pesky comma error, but through video, I can literally be twenty places at once giving that explanation again to those students who need it. Those who don’t can move on.

I build a library.My YouTube channel or posts to the BCDS Grammar Ning are far from comprehensive, but over time these resources add up. I still feel like I need a central spot for all my online resources, but I am glad I’ve taken the time to post what is already out there.

Other people benefit. My little video on The Most Common Comma Error in the World will never go viral, but finding the occasional view or comment is really motivating. I love the idea that something I created can help someone both within and beyond my classroom walls.

It keeps me honest. I try not to become one of those writing teachers that never writes. By trying to publish a new blog post every week—note: I try…I don’t always hit this goal, of course—I am practicing what I preach. By writing regularly (and I do consider making tutorial videos to be a form of writing), I am a much more empathetic and effective writing teacher. I am doing what I ask the students to do, so I believe my evaluation and feedback are more authentic and focused.

It saves time. Yes, it takes more time up front, but I enjoy tinkering with technology and making short tutorial videos. On the back end, I save time. I can point students toward video explanations and “cover more ground” in the classroom.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2013/12/05/putting-it-out-there-take-the-time-to-publish/feed/0rbnealcommaMeaningful, Effective Peer Revisionhttps://robinbneal.com/2013/09/28/meaningful-effective-peer-revision/
https://robinbneal.com/2013/09/28/meaningful-effective-peer-revision/#respondSat, 28 Sep 2013 10:24:55 +0000http://robinbneal.com/?p=420Peer revision is a gamble. At its best, students offer rich feedback and revision becomes an incredibly rich learning experience for all involved. At its worse, peer responses can be a bit like turning over the cockpit controls to a thirteen year old who is still years away from having even a driver’s permit.

I am always, then, looking for ways to make peer revision more meaningful. Here are a few ideas that have worked for me:

Three Chip Revision: Break out some poker chips. To begin, give every student three chips (or any number of chips you decide). Then, hand them a piece of writing from one of their peers and ask them to spot the mistakes. Each error they find, however, has to be checked by the teacher. If they have found a legitimate error, they get two more chips. If they are mistaken and no error exists, take a chip. The goal is to end the revision period with the most chips.

To keep myself sane, I add a few more rules. This exercise is a completely silent one. If they speak to anyone other than me, they lose a chip. Also, I have them line up and continue to edit while in line. This way I move from one student to the next very, very quickly.

For some reason, giving students the chips to hold makes the exercise work. I did this just last week with my grade 6 students, and they liked it so much they asked to play the game again the next day.

Also, I sometimes give the error “hunt” a focus. For instance, last week I awarded “double point chips” for finding run-on sentences, a concept that we are studying in class.

NOTE:This idea is not my own, but I cannot remember where I first read about it. If anyone knows the original source, please share it. I would love to give credit where credit is due.

Jane Schaffer Peer Response: I have been a devotee of Jane Schaffer for many years. Her methods work. By the way, anyone who complains that her methodology is too rigid has probably not been through her training. It might seem lock step to the outsider, but her process emphasizes breaking the molds once students have a solid organizational foundation. Also, if you read what she has to say about peer response, you will see that many of her suggestions promote critical, open-ended thinking. Put another way, she promotes convergent thinking to lead students toward divergent thinking.

As teachers of writing, we know that students must write more often to improve. We also know that our ability to offer timely feedback is limited. (I’m being tactful here. I could also write that I do not want to give another bleeping moment of my personal life to essay grading.)

Of course, creating effective peer revision in the classroom is also critical to students’ growth. Writing instructors are good writers because we spend so much of our time fixing language. Students need to do more of this work; we need to do less. I know I could be better at this aspect of my teaching, and writing this post has reminded me of the importance of shifting the responsibility for effective feedback to my students.

I invite you to leave your suggestions for effective peer revision as well. Please! Really. I’m doing a bit of groveling here. Leave a comment. Others will benefit. More importantly, I will benefit.

Only after deep reflection and with considerable guilt can I write the following confession: I hate you, IKEA. Yes, you offer accessible design at incredible prices, and without you I would never be able to decorate my apartment or organize my classroom drawers. I will even confess to an unhealthy devotion to your meatballs and Prieselbeeren sauce.

But, for purely selfish reasons, I am done with you (for a week at least). I cannot stomach another turn of your fjborking screws or another frustrated thumbing-through of the pictographs you call directions. In other words, I have grown tired of the minutia connected with moving.

I am not complaining. REALLY, I am not. The upheaval associated with an Intercontinental move is a small price to pay for the wonderful opportunity my wife and I have received. In July we moved back to a small town outside Frankfurt, Germany, where we lived and taught prior to our time in Boston. It has been a homecoming in many ways. We return to incredible friends, a lovely little apartment, a lifestyle that brings a sense of adventure to even the most mundane tasks, and, yes, the beer is not bad either. We are more than a little happy.

I begin work at my new (old) school next week, and as I put away my physical toolbox and dust off my metaphorical one, I have been thinking about how this move will influence my life as a teacher:

Remember, be patient. I like to think of myself as a pretty chilled out man, but the ongoing “to do” list connected to a big move reminds me that I make significantly more progress when I slow down and relax. Despite my best efforts, I still struggle mightily to speak German. I have great support systems here, but I try to do as much as I can on my own. In order to connect my satellite dish, figure out which section of grass is o.k. for my dog to use, buy a new car, make chit-chat with a neighbor, or do just about anything else I need to do after stepping out the front door, I have to patiently communicate using my caveman German and highly refined Charades skills. Not actually being an idiot but sounding like one for the majority of my day is incredibly frustrating, but I know I will be more empathetic to my students’ struggles throughout the school year as a result. Patience is, indeed, a virtue, in life and in the classroom.

Take joy in the work. Any task can become tedious. When I accept that even the most routine tasks can becoming extremely complicated when barriers of language and culture come into play, I can find joy in tedium. I’ll admit it. I’m impressed with myself for assembling and hanging my own IKEA shelves. I cursed a lot while doing it, but I secretly enjoyed the challenge, too. I am thankful that each year in the classroom brings with it a chance for me to experiment, reflect, and evolve. I am sure I will curse at some point, but I also know I will look back on the hard work at the end of the year with satisfaction.

Establish routines. Every morning here begins with an hour (or longer) hike in the woods with my dog. My incredibly intelligent but very reactive dog improves with such regular exercise, and I find benefits to my mental and physical health, too. Once the school year begins my hikes might not be as long, but I know I will continue them. I always tell beginning teachers to establish three classroom routines that they will use in every unit throughout the year. This year I will teach English in grades 6, 7, and 9, and for the first time ever, a grade 6 Social Studies class. With four preps, I will have to establish routines early for my own mental health.

Look for the everyday beauty. It is not difficult to find beautiful things in my new home. My wife and I are still very much in the “honeymoon” stage with our new country, but I also have found great joy in finding the everyday beauty in the classroom. In my next post I will be writing about the importance of helping students write for authentic audiences, and I will share some students’ stories that will stay with me for the rest of my life. When I can approach the routine of the school year with the same fresh eyes as an Auslander in a new home, I find much more joy and success in my work.

]]>https://robinbneal.com/2013/08/03/i-hate-you-ikea-what-moving-teaches-me/feed/2rbnealuploaded to Flickr by yamzombieThe First BeerHiking light